Monday, July 08, 2002

Europe Trip

Today I left on the first leg of the family European trip. This is the first time I have taken America Airlines in a long time. I was looking forward to seeing if their advertised greater leg room was as good as advertised. This far, as I am writing this after the first leg to Chicago, and in the air towards France, it does seem more comfortable.

Now for my complaints. -- AA has put GPS units on the prohibited list like pagers and cell phones. This was quite a shock when I got called down for it by the stewardess. I asked, and she showed me the paragraph in the magazine. I think she was irritated with me the rest of the flight. It didn't help that I spilled part of my coke and had to get cleanup napkins.

Truly, it upset me. I have had a favorite toy taken out of my hands, metaphorically. I would like to complain, write a letter, make my case, but I know I will never do that.

It also hurt to be classed as a troublemaker. That was more personal. I am a low-key mild mannered person. Clark Kent with no Superman.

On the Chicago lap, I was seated with a ground of teenagers on a 10 day trip to France, London, and Scotland. It was interesting to see people who got into serious debates over which teen music performer was better than the next one. And what they said about Madonna make her sound like she was gray haired with grandchildren of her own.

The next lap started out much better. There are about a half-dozen empty seats on this flight, and I have one of them next to me. Real leg room and I have the chance to use my laptop. However, on the 8 hour flight, I hope to get some sleep.